Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova will clash Sunday in the finals of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. And at stake for the winner is the No. 2 ranking, a level neither player has reached before.

“Tomorrow is about sudden death,” Azarenka said. “It’s the last match at a very important tournament. It’s the first time in the final for both of us and we both want to win. It’ll take everything out of us and I hope we can show the best tennis we can.”

Kvitova needed three sets to knock out US Open champion Sam Stosur 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 and remain perfect at 18-0 on the year indoors.

“Sam was serving very well today, so it was key I was able to break her in the second and third sets,” said Kvitova who is appearing in her first year-end Championships event. “It was getting very tough at the end. I had 5-0 and then she was playing very fast, hitting many winners. It was getting tough to concentrate on my service games. You never know what will happen when you play against top players. But I served great the last game.”

Kvitova leads Azarenka in their head-to-head 3-2 including winning the last three, two this year at Madrid and Wimbledon.

“Against Vika we played two times this year already,” Kvitova said. “I won both, so hopefully it will be better for me, mentally. So we know each other very well.”

Kvitova is seeking her 6th title of the year, Azarenka her 4th.

There’s big money on the line for both players. Kvitova will pocket $1,750,000 if she wins and $890,000 if she finishes runner-up. Azarenka takes home $1,635,000 if she wins and $775,000 if she is runner-up.

On ATP circuit, top seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga meets No. 2 seed Juan Martin Del Potro Sunday for the Vienna title. Del Potro has won all three prior meetings with the Frenchman.

The 23-year-old Del Potro is bidding for his third ATP title of the season and his 10th overall, first indoors. Tsonga seeks his 7th career title, 2nd of the 2011.

In Russia, Janko Tipsarevic looks to continue his hot stretch run against No. 4 seed Marin Cilic in the St. Petersburg final. Cilic has won five of six against the Serb, but the Tipsarevic comes in ranked higher and on a high after recent titles in Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.

Both Del Potro and Tipsarevic have outside chances still at London, but they’ll have to win Sunday to maintain hopes.

hi kimmi sorry i didnt reply to your message ealier my computer threw a hissy fit,unfortunatly dont get either of the mens matches where i am,glad for cilic though,think tipsy could do with a rest,i am watching the ladies it looks like the makings of a good match come on petra.

@steve o i dont know but i think that just about sealed it for tsonga as regards london,as for delpo i agree he could make the top 10,i think he will do well in masters events,however i think he needs to improve on fitness to be a contender at the majors,seems to get breathless easily,still time will tell and i hope im wrong.

hi jane i would love to,unfortunatly the bank balance wont allow it,however i wont miss a minute when its on television,those tournaments are wide open for anybody to win so should be very interesting,take davey 2 years ago,anyway yeah your right about petra very up and down performance,hope she can pull through and win this,but at the moment i still have no idea which way this match is going to go,very frustrating.

I know alison: Can Vika force a third set? Will Petra dominate the third if there is one? Or will it be a cliff hanger? Indeed, it is tough to predict. Maybe roller coaster isn’t the right metaphor for Petra either: those are quite predictable.

kimmi i suppose it is annoying at least petra has more repect for her opponent, and does it after a point rather than during,which i dont have a problem with,however having said that i hope this wont become a regular thing.

Whatever Petra is barking, it’s the same as come on in Czech a Czech fan said on the chat. But it doesn’t bother me at the end of a point. The howling Vika does with every stroke of the ball, even a drop shot, is ridiculous.

I agree with everyone, terrific scrap. Just shows that a nervewracking bite your fingers sort of a match doesn’t have to be great tennis. first 5 games, Kvitova was supreme – then she just gave it straight back. In the 2nd set, Azarenka played really well, and had a look of steel on her too. It was as if she were saying: you may be flashy, but I play the better tennis and I’m going to ram that thought down your throat. Kvitova was out of it but hanging on – those little shrieks were telling Azaranka she was still there, and the tables might turn.

In the 3rd, Azarenka had Kvitova reeling at 0-40 in the first game. That was the crunch, imo. She’s funny, Kvitova. Off court, she’s dead shy, looks a bit like a milk maid out of Tess of the Durbavilles. On the court, she runs through every emotion there is, including ultra cool and blind panic. Here, she showed her own steel and just clawed her way back to hold. After that, I felt the stuffing rather went out of Azarenka – she was still very much in it, but the 2nd set confidence was gone.

Funny thing is, Kvitova wasn’t playing very well, really. Her serve was a shadow of what it can be, and although she started coming up to the net again – she’d rather abandoned it in the 2nd – her volleys, usually so good, were on the innocuous side.

But she badly wanted to win and she kind of imposed herself on Azarenka – kind of a bluff, really, given her play.

You’ve got to wonder what Kvitova will be like next year. Is she going to keep improving? Do hope so. In those first 5 games, she looked like a Saxon warrior, there is something very exciting about her.

jane, I’m not going to the O2, but my son (elder)is. It is expensive as alison hodge says. They should take a leaf out of the Istanbul peoples’ book – £7 max for a ticket. The crowd looked engaged, didn’t it?

If Kvitova – who’s young – can acquire more consistency, she could dominate the women’s game. Having said that, her present unpredictability must drive her opponents nuts. How do you settle into a rhythm if you don’t know what she’s going to do next? Her coach seems to have an excellent fatherly relationship with her, and manages to smile even when things go wrong.
By the way, is her top ill-fitting, or of too clinging material? She seems to be carrying surplus flesh on her belly, almost what we used to call a spare tyre (or tire if you’re American).

Oh boy, Istanbul 11 – what the show, what the tennis, what the result – all happy for Peta.. I am glad to see her able to win even not playing her best !!! Aza was better than my nerves wished. But Petra’s bark is the sign of hope to her fans !! And yes it is the czech equivalent of come on – spells “pojd” sound “pod”. Though it sounds just like the screem of relieve at times,too.
Love you Peta, you big humble girl, good luck in Fed cup and good 2012 !!!

grendel please just call me alison, as you sound like one of my old school teachers telling me off, when you call me by my full name,(alison hodge get to the back of the class)lol,although i wasnt hodge back then.

To Kimmi – well, here is the difficulty : it is not “pod” with the hard “d” but very soft “d”
which I have no way to describe…And she puts stress on the middle “o” which makes the “d” sound disappear /and her mouths so big at that moment, o:)/

j.sa – i guess she has a unique was of screaming “pojd”. maybe somebody else would say it different. It is what makes kvitova. there was lots of these screams in the third set, she was even doing it when vika made errors lol. i was thinking that must be annoying for opponent. she really wanted it and she is an emotional player.

I hope she becomes even better. the commentator on feed i was watching said all tournaments she won this year has some kind of a roof. apparently she hasnt done well in an open court stadium. Well, we will see.

No offense taken on the other thread. And no thin skin about any tennis player. I’m actually very happy where Del Potro is at #11 this week. He began 2011 at like #400++. If he can finish close to top 10 that’s a good enough start for 2012.

I see Juan has an unlucky draw in Valencia. Tursunov, then Anderson again and if he gets by Anderson, another Tsonga match.

Trying to figure out how I can watch Basel’s opening ceremony and Federer vs Starace.

Yes, kind of like …poooooooooood, Alison.
Anyway I pick up some hints from previous entries.
I smiled at the comparison to milk maid Tess, as I proudly!! refer to her /to my in tennis not much interested am. husband/ as to “our country girl”. She is shy off court and I would assume /based own my own exp./it is mainly bec. of poor ability to express herself in Eng. properly. But she is shy with czech press too, kind of. I think she is still getting used / will she ever?/ to all that fuss around… Like she is puzzled why everybody is laughing at her for still happily driving her old czech made Skoda car. And not knowing how much is on her acc. and what price money is..
Behind the shyness there is admirably strong personality of her own kind. She is different and that is what is so exiting and attractive about her even though I agree she could have picked more flattering outfit /but it is much better than it used to be now/..and there is still so much ahead of her… Unless- here is the joke among the cz. tennis fans, no offense to anbd., – “..do not let Radek Stepanek come near her ..!!”
Sory for the rant, I am still happy for her….

j.sa – the radek stepanek joke is everywhere i am afraid, not just among czech fan. hopefully he stay married and faithful to vaidasova :)

what you say is what makes her special. like a girl next door. somebody from nowhere with so much talent. We havent heard a lot about her yet. I am sure we will learn more.

The outfits are actually not bad. nike outfits have always been very good, unless you are sharapova anything will look good. Like grendel said, she has steadily been losing weight in the last year or so, she will look better and better as she grows imo. with the money she won today, who knows maybe she will buy herself a nice expensive car.

carlo i also hope jmdp can get back to the top,mens tennis needs him,with roger coming to the natural end of his career,the jury still out on rafa,murray yet to make an impression regarding grand slams,nole needs the competition,i wish jmdp good luck this week i think he will need it again,with a draw like that,perhaps you can get roger on live streaming,im hoping he or muzza take the title this week,muzza would be great 4 in a row,roger hasnt won a title since january,im just dissapointed rafas missing,although i think he needs the rest,looking forward to seeing him back next week.